Hercule Poirot

Created by Agatha Christie (1890-1976)

"My name is Hercule Poirot. I am probably the greatest detective in the world."

Yes, yes, yes, HERCULE POIROT was so a private detective.

No, he was NOT hard-boiled. He wasn't some rye-guzzling brute in a trenchcoat and fedora, with an eye for the ladies, a .45 in his hand and a bottle in the desk drawer. He was, in fact, pretty much an extension of the classic gentleman detective: slightly foppish, even prissy, definitely arrogant, a conceited little prat. Belgian. Mustache. Lotsa little gray cells. Even more ego.

But -- because he was written by Christie -- there was also a hard, unflinching moral core at the center of his being that would not be denied. He was every bit as dogged and determined as any two-fisted swinging dick from the pulps, and he could be just as cold and focussed. If you've ever been interested in crime or detective fiction, you've read him.

And yes, his occupation was that of a private detective. So, like it or not, he certainly belongs in these pages.

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Agatha Christie is, of course, the Queen of Crime, and the most widely published novelist of all time. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 19 plays, and six novels written under the name Mary Westmacott, but is best known for creating two of the world's most popular sleuths, Poirot and amateur sleuth Miss Marple. She also created arguably the first husband-and-wife private eyes, Tommy and "Tuppence" Beresford.

When the much loved mystery author passed away 1976, she had already made plans to ensure nobody would continue her two most loved series. She did this by killing off both amateur sleuth Miss Marple and Poirot in final novels, and arranging to have them both published posthumously.

The final Poirot, Curtain, spent several months at the top of the bestseller lists, as did the final Miss Marple.

And that was apparently that.

The Christie estate, however, apparently didn't get the message. In 2014, The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah, a brand new Hercule Poirot novel, was published, with more "officially sanctioned" sequels promised.